Prof. dr. H.S. Benjamins
Rick Benjamins (b. 1964) is professor of liberal theology. His main interest is liberal theology and postmodernism. He studied theology in Groningen and Marburg and wrote his dissertation on Origen of Alexandria. From 1993 to 2008 he was a pastor. In 2008 he became lecturer in systematic theology and from 2012 professor of liberal theology. The subject of his research has been liberal theology of the 19th and 20th century and postmodern philosophy and theology in the 20th and 21st century, focusing on postmodern critique of modernism and rearticulations of liberal theology.
Find a list of his publications
Read a brief introduction to his books
To learn about his position between liberal and postmodern theologies, it may be best to look at his responses to John Caputo, Peter Rollins, Catherine Keller, Jan Olav Henriksen and Graham Ward on various occasions in recent years.
As an academic, Benjamins publishes in German and English, but most of his work is in Dutch, as a matter of being contextual. As a pastor, he was a founding member of “Op Goed Gerucht,” a movement of progressive pastors seeking to keep in touch with post-Christian and post-secular culture; as a professor of liberal theology, he co-initiated “The Liberal Lecture” as a means of presenting relevant theologies to a wider Dutch audience.
Benjamins was born in Hoogeveen in 1964. He studied theology in Groningen and Marburg from 1983 to 1989 and received his doctorate in 1993 with a dissertation on the theology of Origenes. From 1993 to 2008 he was pastor in the reformed congregations of Middelstum and Huizinge, the Protestant regional congregation of Maas and Waal and the PKN congregation of Heemskerk. In the rectory he wrote his books “Een zachte soort van zijn" and “Een en ander." From 2008 he has been teaching systematic theology at the PThU. From September 2012, he was extraordinary professor at the RUG because of the VVP with the teaching assignment “liberal theology: development and effect from the 19th century to the present.” From September 2022, he is full professor of liberal theology at PThU.
